Morning journal and courier., 1887-11-07
BUILDING BRIDGES.

Booming Times on she Railroads In
 And Near the Cfty-WOrk Begun on
 The Jackson Street Bridge Which
 Will Be of Iron and Two Hundred
 Feet Long - Work Begun on the
 James Street Iron Bridge-TwO New
 Iron Bridges in the AnneX-A Dan
 gerous Grade Crossing Eliminated
 Happy Cedar Hillites-A Notable Era
 In Consolidated Road History.
 Work is booming on the Consolidated road in bridge building in and near this city. Work has been commenced for the construc tion of the long talked of Jackson street bridge which will cross over the deep cut through which the Hartford railroad and the Air Line railroad pass at Cedar Hill, this city, about a quarter of a mile above the Tin bridge and Neck bridge respectively. The contractors for the stone werk, Robert Redfeld & Sons of the town of Orange, who ] do so large an amount of work in their line | for the Consolidated road, have begun their ! work and the solid stone bed on which the ! west pier is to rest is laid and the earth is being dug away on the west bank for the | next abutment. Large, heavy blocks of red | sandstone are used for the work which are now being carted from the East Haven ! ! last seventeen years. A team of oxen is busy | daily drawing away the earth and gang of | shovelers is also at work, and steam engine | for hoisting puffs and tugs away in little \ shed in the cut MT. E. R. Redfeld, one of \ the sons, has charge of the work. The new bridge will be of iron and over two hundred feet long, the cut being a wide one, there being eight railroad tracks ih it. The two piers will be each about 23 feet high and the \ span of the bridge in the clear between the \ two piers will be about one hundred ! feet or 106 feet from center pier to center | pier The distance from the east side to the | first pier will be S514 feet, and from the west | pier to the abutment AZ feet There will be slight rise or ascent each side to the bridge.
 It will be seen from the figures that the ! bridge will be big one and costly one. The railroad company and the city pay for it. This is the bridge which has caused no little public attention in the last few years, | as it was ordered some years ago and the city I went ahead and laid the assessments real | estate owners in the locality and demanded payment just the same as if the bridge had 1 been built A good many of those assessed paid up after protesting, not feeling like having fight with the city, but several citi zens, among them President Hiram Camp oi the New Haven Clock company, did some vigorous kicking, declining to pay for pub, lie improvement which had not been made or even begun. Several years ago many of l the real estate owners who had been they did not relish the proceeding
 much. Now, however, after years of wait ing for the bridge, the work is started and it l will be finished, no doubt, by next spring.
 The piers and abutments will be built and
 finished before Christmas. This improve | ment will make uninterrupted and direct I roadway communication from the shore of hn Uni niI0ia Point I (across from Tomlinson bridge) via Blatchley avenue and Jackson street, to State street at Cedar Hill. Jackson street is a continuation of Blatchley avenue. The people living in I this section of the city are much pleased over l the starting of the work for the new bridge and the prospect of early and direct commu- 1 nication with the center of Fair Haven via Jackson street will be extended to meet the bridge, a work which will not involve great difficulty, as this streets extension is already defined and laid out. The street, from the
 bridge to State street, distance of about l three hundred feet, will have to be laid out ! and worked.
 | Another notable improvement in this To
 cality has just been commenced. This is the
 continuation of James street (the next stree | south of Jackson street at Cedar HilD, whicl is now to pass under the Shore Line railroad 1 tracks, the same as it does under the Hart
 ford railroad tracks about six hundred fee
 above. An iron bridge similar to that the ! Hartford trains run over at James street is tC l be built where the Shore Line trains vii ! pass over the street. When the new bridge
 is built there will be direct roadway com,
 munication via James street from Cedar Hil
 to Grapevine Point, distance of over mile
 It will be great convenience to mechanic.
 and others employed at the Grapevine Point
 factories who reside wish to reside a ! Cedar Hill
 The Consolidated road has just completed
 a new iron bridge at the crossing in the Fail
 Haven annex where MT. Miller, who drove
 coach for the Derby Silver Plating company
 was killed in attempting to drive across tn
 track. Here the road now passes under tn
 track and thereby another dangerous grad
 crossing is dispensed with
 little further on in East Haven another
 iron bridge has been built by the Consoli
 dated road at a crossing. It is decided | improvement